Over the years, distilleries have been busy innovating things at their end, in the hopes of being relevant with an ever changing and evolving consumer base. They’ve tried chucking in different maturation techniques, finishing their whiskies in rum, champagne or beer casks, or even storing these casks at warehouses underground, some at sea or even space!

Distilleries have of late, been toying around with some of their mainstream releases. JW, for example had introduced the Black Label Ruby, their standard 12 YO finished in casks that previously held red wine or PX oloroso sherry. Glenfiddich too has put a spin to their ever so loved standard 12, getting it all sherried up – finished in casks that previously held Amontillado sherry wine. And with that, here we are…the stereotypical Glenfiddich 12, draped in a wine red theme rather than the standard green. The bottle also now transparent, comes diluted at 40%, a pet peeve as 48% would have been mega!

Abv : 40%

Eye : Burnished

Nose : Caramel and honey; coupled with dried fruits, nuts and a mild but distinct char. There’s a subtle earthiness with the richness of plums, red apples, hints of milk chocolate, powdered cardamom, and a sprinkle of white pepper and spice.

Taste : Sweet but dry, tropical with a drizzle of vanilla. Dried fruits, cream and dark wine influences interleaved with a whiff of salt, oak, some powdered nutmeg and smoke. 

Finish : Medium | Astringent yet lightly sweet; fruity with dried fruits and toasted wood.

The Sherry Cask does scream Amontillado, giving off lots of rich though subtle dried fruits on both the nose and the palate, coupled with influences emanating from the dark red wine. There’s that touch of earthiness, combined with a rather dry finish – clearly, there’s good breadth with a justifiably decent complexity. What the latter lacks is the potential to grab your attention, getting you just interested but not enough to have you immersed. I feel the 40% abv has probably watered down the spirit, too much for my liking. In saying that, you can almost taste the traditional Glenfiddich traits but cloaked in red.

At AUD $105 (on offer), it is ridiculously overpriced; blame possibly going towards the cost of procuring Amontillado Ex Sherry casks. The red wine cask finishing does not offer that much of a punch that can offset the 30 dollars difference with the standard 12 YO expression. But other than ignoring the expressions potential to strip you off your spare change, it surely is worthy of a shot!

Slainte!